The annual “BBQ in Blue Jeans” reaches a 10-year-milestone Friday night at the New Bern Riverfront Convention Center, with proceeds again going toward the relocation of the New Bern Firemen’s Museum to the old 1928 Central Fire Station on Broad Street.

Entertainment for Friday’s event is provided by local bands “3-Day Weekend” and “Cold Biscuit.”

The doors open at 6 p.m., with dinner being served an hour later, catered by Moore’s Barbeque, one of the presenting sponsors, along with the Sun Journal.

As always, everyone is urged to wear comfortable blue jeans and enjoy a dancing and a bar dinner including ribs, chicken, sides and dessert. Tickets are $25 in advance, or $30 at the door, and can be purchased at the New Bern Riverfront Convention Center, New Bern Firemen’s Museum on Hancock Street, Mitchell Hardware on Craven Street and the New Bern Fire Department Headquarters.

For more information, call 636-4087.

Richard Blythe, a Friends of the Firemen’s Museum board member and the last volunteer fire chief in New Bern, said the museum is filled with artifacts that are invaluable and stories abound.

The move to the old firehouse will provide a venue with authenticity and needed space, as well as a prime location on Broad Street.

The front of the old fire house has been outfitted with period doors of the 1920s, a heating and air conditioning has been installed and after electrical work is completed, cosmetic labor on doors, walls and floors will leave the facility nearly ready for occupancy.

Two major items that remain on the list are installation of an elevator in the “fire hose drying tower.” It will cost $50,000-plus and will have a Plexiglas ceiling for riders to look up and view the hanging hoses.

The building also must have an outside fire escape, which was not a requirement when the original New Bern firemen were housed there.

That will cost about $15,000, which is part of the $100,000 to $200,000 that remains in the project fundraising.

Already in hand is more than $100,000 in interactive displays, many targeted toward a young audience on themes of history and fire safety.

Blythe and Sabrina Bengel, the former alderman and longtime leader of the renovation project, estimate that the total project will be about $1 million.

Blythe said community donations, events such as the BBQ in Blue Jeans and grants from foundations such as Harold Bate have fueled the project.

Bengel, the event chairman for the BBQ on Friday, said overall fundraising has been under way since 2007, but that it hit several stumbling years when the economy took a nose dive.

“We have thought many years that next year would be the year,” she said, adding that 2014 should indeed bring the opening of the new museum.

She said the BBQ event has been a great success over the years, adding more than $15,000 annually toward the project.

In 2003, the city of New Bern turned operation of the museum to the not-for-profit Friends of the New Bern Firemen’s Museum.

For information, visit the museum at 408 Hancock St. or call 636-4087. The museum is open 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday through Saturday.

On the web: newbernfiremuseum.com

Charlie Hall can be reached at 252-635-5667 or Charlie.hall@newbernsj.com